Satellite sees Tropical Storm Malia moving away from Hawaiian Islands

Tropical Storm Malia is on a northwesterly track and continued to move away from the Hawaiian Islands on Sept. 22 as NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an image of the storm.

NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an infrared image of Malia's clouds on Sept. 22 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT). NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center noted that satellite imagery showed a span of 250 nautical miles between the center of circulation and the strongest thunderstorms and strongest convection (rising air that creates thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone). The storm appears to be stretched out and not circular in the imagery.

At 11 a.m. EDT (5 a.m. HST/1500 UTC) on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015, the center of Tropical Storm Malia was located near latitude 28.7 North and longitude 173.4 West. That puts the center about 295 miles (475 km) northwest of Maro Reef, and about 185 miles (295 km) north of Lisianski Island. Malia was moving toward the northwest near 14 mph (22 kph). Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph). The estimated minimum central pressure is 1002 millibars.

On Sept. 22, Malia was causing dangerous sea and surf conditions across the northwestern Hawaiian Islands from Maro Reef to French Frigate Shoals. In addition, Malia is bringing heavy rainfall and thunderstorms to portions of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands during the morning hours on Sept. 22 (local time) mainly from Maro Reef to French Frigate Shoals. NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) noted that additional rainfall of 1 to 3 inches is expected.

For updated forecasts from CPHC, visit: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc.

Malia is expected to strengthen as it transitions into an extratropical gale low later today into early Thursday, Sept. 24. Malia is forecast to move in a northwesterly direction over open waters.